The Company

This global organization serves as the world's leading provider of end-to-end supply chain solutions for the hospitality industry. With procurement experts spanning 11 regional offices around the globe, the organization supports sourcing, purchasing, and logistics for over $13 billion annually across hotels in 145+ countries, totaling 2.5 million guest rooms.

The scale of operations is staggering: the company sources more than 550,000 unique products and services across 3,500 suppliers, processing over 40 million transactions annually.  

"We don't just get products to people. We orchestrate the experience, and we do it for more than 19,000 properties around the world," explains the Vice President, Strategy & Business Operations. "From cost competitive vendor contracts and order forecasting to value engineering furniture packages for new brands and coordinating freight logistics that ensure every delivery arrives on time and to the right property."

The organization has evolved from supporting a single hotel brand to serving more than 141 unique hospitality brands, with over half of their 19,000 supported hotels representing diverse brands across the industry. Through collective purchasing power, they secure 15-40% savings for hotel customers by leveraging their massive scale to negotiate better pricing, terms, and data access.

The Challenges

Despite their success in leveraging collective purchasing power to secure 15-40% savings for hotel customers, the organization faced significant challenges in managing supplier incentives and rebate programs at scale.

Data Complexity at Massive Scale

The company processed supplier data across more than 3,500 contracted manufacturers and distributors, with data flowing through over 400 systems and touching more than half a million SKUs. This generated 40 million individual transaction lines annually.

"We were juggling millions of rows of unstructured data, representing millions of dollars in incremental revenue and savings opportunities every single year," notes the Vice President. "Our biggest problem: we didn't have the right technology in hand to prevent revenue loss and cumbersome processes."

Manual, Error-Prone Processes

The organization managed this complexity with a dedicated team of six people using a simple homegrown .NET application with a SQL server backend to manage over five terabytes of data. The process involved collecting supplier spend files, crunching numbers, comparing them against incentive terms, and working with supplier partners to ensure alignment.

"It worked because we worked harder, not because our technology was ideal for the task," admits the Vice President. "As the volume of data grew, so did the risk. We weren't always catching discrepancies."

The manual processes led to multiple critical issues:

• Unit of measure mismatches

• Terminology conflicts

• Misaligned revenue terms

• Data accuracy problems

• Strained supplier relationships

"Even small data gaps can have a huge impact on our performance," explains the Vice President. "This wasn't just a systems problem, it was a mindset shift waiting to happen. We didn't just want a faster process; we needed a smarter one."

The Solution

After launching a comprehensive RFP process in 2023, the organization selected Enable as their rebate management partner, recognizing the need for fundamental transformation in incentive management.

Why Enable Won

"Enable delivered a fit-for-purpose application for incentive management, a user-friendly interface, AI-driven automation for data mapping and categorization, SaaS flexibility with minimal development needs, and a high-touch customer support and implementation guidance team," explains the Vice President. "This wasn't just a software purchase, it was a strategic decision to future-proof our operations."

dataX & Enable Innovation

Rather than simply implementing existing software, the organization saw an opportunity to collaborate with Enable to build something transformational. Working with Enable and data solutions partner dataX, they developed an AI machine learning tool to auto-cleanse, match, merge, and categorize products.

"We didn't just buy software, we built something better," states the Vice President. "We developed a master product list, a unified source of truth for every SKU in our ecosystem. We mapped over 500,000 SKUs into a five-level taxonomy structure across 2,000 categories."

Tracking Spend from Days to Minutes

The transformation delivered immediate results. Previously complex analyses that took days could now be completed almost instantaneously.

"In 2024 alone, we tracked 66 different ketchup SKUs from 19 manufacturers, spending over $3 million on ketchup products," illustrates the Vice President. "Before Enable and dataX, that analysis would've taken our team days to untangle. Now it's almost instantaneous."

Transforming Supplier Relationships

The new platform revolutionized how the organization works with suppliers, moving from reactive auditing to proactive collaboration.

• Data Validation and Reconciliation: "Instead of piecing together fragmented data each month, we have a structured framework that ensures contract terms are interpreted and applied correctly each and every time."

• Revenue Recovery: "By leveraging Enable's automated tracking and reconciliation, we uncovered significant revenue around previously unverified incentives—dollars that could have easily been lost in the void."

• Scalability: "This transformation wasn't just about our relationship with one supplier. By improving our data integrity and incentive tracking, we unlocked a roadmap for how we manage supplier agreements across the board."

Measurable Results After One Year

The impact has been dramatic:

• Supplier Coverage: Expanded from supporting 50 suppliers with detailed incentive calculations to over 300 by year's end

• Processing Speed: Tasks that once took five days to reconcile can now be completed in minutes

• Efficiency Gains: Eliminated entire categories of manual work, allowing teams to focus on growth and innovation

• Revenue Protection: Preventing millions in annual revenue leakage

"We've turned data from a burden into a business advantage, all while creating better workflows with our suppliers and delivering greater value to our global customer base," summarizes the Vice President.

Looking Forward

The success has created momentum for continued innovation and industry leadership.

"Solutions like Enable are the future of supplier collaboration—co-creating processes and programs that work smarter, run more accurately, and eliminate so many of the manual time-consuming components," reflects the Vice President. "At the end of the day, this isn't about hotels or software, it's about shared value and how together we can innovate smarter and create a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts."

The partnership has also extended Enable's capabilities, with the data solutions now being offered to other clients beyond hospitality.

"Through this project, our team helped Enable and dataX form a partnership, and now they're working together for clients beyond us and beyond hospitality," notes the Vice President. "We're not just keeping up with the industry, we're leading it."